The number of different modes of electronic communications has expanded beyond conventional circuit-switched telephone communications. Simultaneously, reliance on electronic communications over different types of communication networks has become more pervasive.
Not surprisingly, increasing numbers of people are receiving more and more messages thorough through various forms of electronic communications. These communications include, for example, messages received over a cellular or mobile telephone, messages recorded by a voice messaging system, messages received through an instant messaging device, as well as visual, text, and voice messages received with a computing device communicatively linked to a packet-switched network such as the Internet.
Although these varied modes of electronic communication provide many advantages, there is yet a problem that arises if many messages from many sources are received too frequently or if even a single message is received when the receiver has no opportunity to prepare a reminder pertaining to the received message. The problem arises when the received message conveys instructions or a request that some future action be taken by the message receiver. At any given moment, the receiver may not find it convenient or may not have the necessary paraphernalia, such as a piece of paper and pencil, to prepare a reminder regarding the message.
There currently exist e-mail systems with which a receiver can copy an e-mail into a to-do list or manually create a to-do reminder, and the system will keep track of the reminder, ascertain its priority, and note when an action is to be taken. With such a system, however, it is typically necessary that the user take time to fill in the particular details of which the user wishes to be reminded. Moreover, the user typically must remember to electronically move the e-mail into an appropriate portion of the system's memory so as to place it within a to-do list.